2014-Victory

Carnival Victory although smaller is very similar in design as the carnival Splendor that we where on the year before, there are few differences along with color scheme changes but the basic layout is close. In fact Carnival Glory / Carnival Splendor / Carnival Victory has the same basic layout on the ship.

On most ships there always seems to be an most upper deck that you cannot get to with a wheelchair and that seems to be common on a lot of ships but the vast majority of the ship is wheelchair accessible.

There was 2 tender ports during our 3 back to back cruises and that was at Half Moon Cay and at Georgetown, Cayman Islands. Anyone using a motorized wheelchair or scooter was refused on the tenders regardless of portability / weight or disability level. For the carnival Victory cruises I stayed on the ship at tender ports and only my wife went to shore.

Persons that was not going out at the Miami port between back to back cruises had to wait around the guest services desk at a set time until all other passengers where off and then was provided with new room cards and escorted off the ship to have a brief face to face meet with immigration officers inside the terminal building and then back on the ship.

Shows where good, although following the carnival tradition, no pictures and no video are allowed at most shows.

As with all carnival ships, photos taken by the photographers on board although good there are no deals if you buy more. They have a punch card for free gifts after certain picture buy intervals. Although I will take what they give but considering the cost of the pictures I would rather have better price deals than the token gifts they give out. No charge for picture taking, you pay only what you want to buy.

They also have a specialized photographer that is separate from the regular photographers, again no charge for the taking but much higher pricing if you decide to buy, but you have options that they can take pictures on shore or on the ship.

Special Note regarding bringing Alcohol on board….

We had bought a bottle of wine in the main dining hall of the Carnival Glory which was the previous cruise ship we where on during this trip, only a small glass of wine was used, and we took it with us when we left the ship at the end of that cruise.

We packed it inside one our luggage suitcases and checked it in when going to the Carnival Victory. We got a note sent to our cabin stating that one luggage piece was being held at security and we had to go there to have it opened and inspected. The item they spotted was the bottle of wine which they refused to allow us to have. They also refused to return it to us as it was previously opened and it did not matter that it was purchased with a another ship on the same cruise line. If it was not opened they would have returned it at the end of the cruise, all I told them was ‘enjoy’.

By: Donald Kerr